Commercial Disputes AU
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September 14, 2026
Judge Adopts Class' Questions In JB Hi-Fi Warranty Case
A Victorian Supreme Court judge has sided with plaintiffs in a class action over how to characterise key questions in an upcoming trial against retailer JB Hi-Fi that alleges misleading or deceptive conduct in the sale of extended warranties for consumer goods.
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September 14, 2026
ACCC Makes Realestate.com Scrap Agent All-In Listing Rule
REA Group, owner of Australia's largest online residential real estate listing portal realestate.com.au, has agreed to remove contract restrictions requiring agencies to list all or most of their properties on the platform as part of court-enforceable undertaking by the ACCC over competition concerns.
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September 14, 2026
McPherson's, Ex-CEO Appeal Misleading Investors Finding
Skincare company McPherson's Ltd has filed for leave to appeal a Federal Court ruling that the company misled investors over late disclosure of sales forecasts and that its former CEO breached his duty of care.
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September 11, 2026
ASIC Moves To Block Lawyers, Media From Director Details
ASIC on Friday said it was considering changes to the agency's company register, seeking to provide additional public data for free, while proposing to block access to "sensitive" information about company directors, such as their dates of birth, from lawyers and journalists.
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September 11, 2026
Reddit Tells High Court Teen Social Media Ban 'Ineffective'
Reddit and advocacy group The Digital Freedom Project have urged the High Court of Australia to invalidate legislation barring social media accounts for under-16s, arguing it steps on their right to political communication, is ineffective and doesn't address the harms it is meant to address.
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September 11, 2026
Tabcorp's $1.4B Tax Deduction Appeal Rejected By High Court
The High Court of Australia has rejected Tabcorp's application for special leave to appeal a ruling that denied it a $1.49 billion tax deduction over alleged entitlements linked to the termination of gaming licenses in Victoria, based on there being "no financial arrangement" at the time the licenses expired.
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September 11, 2026
BHP Faces Union-Funded Class Action Over Holiday Work
BHP faces a class action in the Federal Court of Australia funded by the Mining and Energy Union and led by former employees of the miner's in-house labour hire company who allege they were unlawfully required to work public holidays including Christmas without providing a right of refusal, according to law firm AEN legal and court filings.
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September 11, 2026
Johnson Winter Slattery Opens NY Office For US Investors
Australian commercial law firm Johnson Winter Slattery has opened its first overseas office in New York in a bid to help US clients gain regulatory approvals to invest in Australia.
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September 10, 2026
Victorian Criminal Bar Rebuts 'Wrong Judges' Critique
The Criminal Bar Association of Victoria is defending the state's judges and magistrates after an opinion piece by former Victorian Chief Crown Prosecutor Gavin Silbert KC criticised the state's judicial appointments and warned against election-driven "law-and-order promises".
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September 10, 2026
Equity Trustees Exec Blames Super Losses On 'Other Parties'
The executive director of Equity Trustees told a parliamentary joint committee on Thursday that the firm has not compensated investors for their losses in the collapsed First Guardian and Shield funds because "other parties are responsible."
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September 10, 2026
HSF Chair Says ASIC Over-Regulation Pushing Directors Away
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Chair and senior partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage has struck out at ASIC for excessive regulation arguing Australian-listed company directors want to move to private firms as they feel "the ever-growing burden" of over-regulation alongside securities class action threats, in a Bathurst Lecture speech on Thursday evening.
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September 10, 2026
Maurice Blackburn Plans Rival Corporate Travel, PwC Suit
Maurice Blackburn is investigating a class action proposal alleging misconduct by Corporate Travel Management and its former auditor PwC Australia, setting up a potential carriage dispute with Phi Finney McDonald.
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September 10, 2026
KPMG Procurement Ban Extended To End Of October
The Department of Finance has extended the current ban on KPMG Australia bidding for government contracts until the end of October as the deadline for the government's review of the auditing giant's governance, culture, ethics and integrity frameworks is pushed back.
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September 09, 2026
Online Safety Agency Would Gain 'Rare' Power Under New Bill
The federal government's proposed digital duty of care would give the eSafety Commissioner unusually broad authority to order remedial action where it reasonably believes the new duties are not being met, according to Baker McKenzie partners Adrian Lawrence and Andrew Stewart.
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September 09, 2026
High Court Rules Orica Employees Entitled To Long Service
The High Court of Australia ruled Wednesday that commercial blasting provider Orica must contribute to the coal industry's portable long-service-leave scheme for its shotfirer employees, holding that excluding them based on Orica's broader non-mining business would "undermine the fundamental conceptual underpinning" of the scheme.
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September 09, 2026
Andrew Clements KC Appointed To Victorian Supreme Court
Andrew Clements KC has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria sitting in the common law division, which hears matters concerning property, tort, contract law, wills and estates, and appeals from lower courts and tribunals, the court announced on Tuesday.
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September 09, 2026
Westpac Says KPMG Withheld Allens Reports Over Privilege
Westpac has revealed KPMG initially refused to provide Allens' investigation reports into the auditor's whistleblower scandal, citing legal professional privilege, before later handing over partially-redacted versions.
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September 09, 2026
Justice Muston Says Bar Has 'Stubborn' Diversity Problem
The Supreme Court of NSW Justice Edward Muston has advocated for the Australian legal profession, particularly the bar, to better represent the community it serves by giving opportunities across the board given limited diversity is "a particularly stubborn problem."
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September 08, 2026
Government Eyes $109M Fines For Addictive App Features
The Federal Government is proposing penalties of up to $109 million for online services including social media sites like Google's YouTube and Meta's Instagram that fail to protect children from addictive or harmful features, while also giving Australians a choice to opt in or out of social media algorithms.
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September 08, 2026
Meta Settles Sked App Maker Competition Case Mid-Trial
Instagram and its parent company Meta have reached a mid-trial settlement with app developer Dialogue Consulting, resolving a case accusing the social media giant of anti-competitively cutting off Dialogue's access to Meta's platforms, according to a Tuesday Federal Court filing.
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September 08, 2026
ASIC Bans Ex-Sequoia CEO Crole For 10 Years On Interprac
ASIC has banned former Sequoia Financial Group CEO Garry Crole from managing a financial services business for 10 years due to competence and diligence failures in his management of subsidiary Interprac which steered thousands of superannuation customers to invest roughly $677 million in collapsed Shield and First Guardian funds.
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September 08, 2026
Court Approves Warburg Pincus' $700M CreditorWatch Deal
A New South Wales Supreme Court judge has approved private equity giant Warburg Pincus' purchase of commercial credit and risk reporting services platform CreditorWatch, in a deal worth around $700 million.
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September 08, 2026
Justice Pike To Head NSW Supreme Court Class Actions
The Supreme Court of New South Wales said Justice Ian Pike has moved to the Commercial List and is now in charge of managing class actions across both the Equity and Common Law divisions, in one of five key administrative changes in effect from Monday.
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September 07, 2026
Corporate Travel, PwC Face Phi Finney McDonald-Led Suit
Phi Finney McDonald said it is "well advanced" in a class action proposal against Corporate Travel Management and it's former auditor PwC Australia for allegedly misleading investors in its financial reports after the company admitted to an overcharging scandal and it's shares sunk on return to the ASX this month.
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September 07, 2026
NSW Chief Justice Warns AI Could Widen Legal Access Gaps
NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell said he fears there is a digital divide between large firms that can afford specialised AI and the rest of the legal sector unable to keep up with the pace of change.